maybe i didn't understand...
i don't know how you train without a watch of any kind
any old watch is more helpful than none.
after that, it just depends on how much of a data geek you are

I just run at the pace I am most comfortable with and gradually increase the distance in accordance with the amount of time I have until the race. On occasion I will bring a timex with me just to see how long routine distances will take, but as far as a watch, I mean tracking pace, hr, distance, etc.

I use a standard cycling computer on my bike. Cadence is about the only upgraded feature. (and it's becoming the norm.)
Up until today I used just a plain 10yr+ old Timex Ironman. (I think I got it at Target or Kmart when I was 16 or so)
Today, I used my new Polar F6M HRM. I bought a HRM really just to see how close to my optimal heartrate I've been training. So, I strapped it on, got it calibrated, and was off.
I really just let it record the workout and didn't watch it like an egg timer or anything. I just worked out by feel as normal. Turns out I spend about 90% of my normal workout time in my optimal zone.... Go figure! The only time I really got my heartrate over my target was during the last 1/4 or so of a brick workout after a 40mi ride. I PR'd the bike and had to cut back a bit to avoid blowing up on the run.

So, long story short......If you continually feel better after working out. You're probably doing ok. If you always feel drained, sore, or weak, you're probably overdoing it.

And you can pay anywhere from $60 - $700 to confirm this..... I'll probably use my HRM until the batteries die....then who know's. After all it only cost me $60 to update my old Timex.

A distance/pace/HR watch can help you track progress and maybe train better but the HR function is the most useful IMHO. It has helped me realize how my body feels at a given HR and how long I can continue with that amount of pain. Your HR is also what you can control day in/out, your pace will be dictated by course, weather conditions, soreness, etc... in addition to your effort level.

If you're looking for a smaller investment, I'd recommend a HR monitor. That being said I have the 305 because I like not having to plan out a course to go run...

What's the point of running then... it's like it never happened. :)

If I don't have the watch, then how will I track my run? How will I know if I've made progress from my last run and the one before that? This is just crazy talk. Sometimes I wear the Garmin on one arm and my Timex on the other. Where the heck are my meds... you've caused me to have an episode.

I have a cheap Casio... but it can record laptimes, which I use for kilometer markers. Print off a route map with km markers from gmap-pedometer.com and it's all I need! :)

jono

i don't wear a watch when i run and only have a general sense of how far the run i am going on is. probably just depends on your racing philosophy, your interest in stats, and what you are trying to get out of all this.

i think it is possible to train for the more intense events out there without tracking your every movement. but if you enjoy tracking all that data, by all means have at it!

Two things I use:

1) Map My Run
2) The clock on my microwave.

I have a watch to record times in the pool/open water, and a cycling computer with a dead cadence sensor (wireless link distance is off slightly). Run off feel and don't wory about time/hr/pace. If it's a hard workout, run hard. If you're doing lsd, just get out there and cruise comfortably. Simple as that.

My Timex band has been unreliable ... so I've been running without a watch for many workouts, like xc800runner said, just go hard if it's a hard day, go easy if it's not. If you're constantly looking at your watch, trying to see how fast or far you've gone, you risk missing two reallly important things about doing triathlon: 1.- learning to feel what your body can do, when you need rest, etc., and 2. - the scenery (except in the pool). I do, unless I'm having an Emil Zatopek day, generally use the watch when doing track intervals.

hey that was fun. here's my run

http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/dc/washington/463165102914

mapmyrun/mapmyride is great...I spend way too much time looking at possible routes and their elevation profiles (crude but gives you an idea) for my bike rides there too.

Since my HR monitor died in March and i haven't replaced the battery yet, I have been timing my runs on my iPod. crude, but effective enough. I never had GPS capability or anything more high tech than a general HR monitor though.

I don't bother most of the time. I just look at the clock on the way out the door and again on the way in. I only use one if I'm doing some sort of timed interval. I hate watch tan lines.

I wear a watch some of the time, and sometimes not. Depends on what I want to do that day. I know the distances on all of my favorite routes, so the only reason to wear a watch is if I care about intervals or something.

RPE is remarkably accurate for me. Once I bought a HRM and wore it at a race. I forgot to look at it until afterwards. I stayed within one heartbeat of where I wanted to be in my target zone for 2.5 hours. So after that, I've only worn it when I really wanted the data, which is rarely, and I've worn it at HIM and IM distance to keep myself from overamping the bike via adrenaline.

my running partner just got a new garmin 405 and up until now, we would just go along, merrily on our way, I would talk his ear off, and he would nod and say "yes, sharon, you're right" (just how a running partner should be, right?) Now with the new gadget, it's we're going too slowly,... this can't be right,... we've gotta speed up...it's me or the Garmin (although he paid more for the watch :(

Oh yeah, I ran with a guy who had an all-new arm gadget. The dang thing beeped when we went too slow. Beeped when we went too fast, Beeped for no reason at all. That was the last run I did with him and The Gadget, that's for sure!

I was running next to a guy wearing a metronome in order to keep his run cadence. 90 beeps a minute. I sped up.